cherry picking (not as easy as advertised)

Posting this on a Sunday bc even tho it's super relevant to my interests, I suspect the topic of saddle shopping might quickly exhaust readers.... so... here are more trial saddles on a day when maybe not a lot of people tune in haha.

I have two saddles heading my way and already I can feel the irrational hope welling within - and that sinking feeling that maybe nothing will ever work and I will eventually cripple my mare...

Barnsby Whitaker 17" medium tree

Let's start with my latest craze - the saddle on which all my hopes and dreams are currently pinned. It's a Barnsby Whitaker described as being in excellent condition. The seat size looks good, I'm willing to experiment with medium trees, and wow the price is absolutely right. In fact, the price is a tad suspicious. Perhaps bc it's an older model (googling horse forums re: the serial number makes me believe this saddle was built in 1998)? Not entirely sure...

Anyway, people tell me that Barnsby saddles have relatively flatter trees, and while it's difficult to tell when a saddle is just on a stand like this, that looks to be the case here. The panels are foam... but also have wool felt. Not entirely sure what that means, but perhaps it suggests that there might be some wiggle room with adjusting the fit?

The trial period is a little intense - only four days - and full payment is required up front. Plus shipping costs are on the high side (tho still well within the common range from my last foray into saddle shopping). We will see tho. This saddle should hopefully arrive sometime this week.

brand as yet unknown, 17.5" narrow tree

This saddle is local from the Maryland Saddlery, same tack shop that I got the other trial Bates last winter. Their trial periods are super flexible and no payment is required (and no shipping!). Meaning I'm a little more willing to take on more questionable saddles.

This saddle is a little bigger in seat size than I'd like, but it has the narrow tree. It might also be a little too curvy in the panels, but I figured it'd be worth a shot. The biggest unknown here is the brand. So it's hard to assess potential quality through just a picture. We will see - it's ready for pickup as of this writing, I just need to go out there and take a look (and maybe pick up a few other things too?).

Fontaine Lyon, 16" wide tree 

And then there's Kaitlyn's Fontaine that I've been riding in for the past week or two. I like this saddle for me - it's a tad small but more than makes up for it with grippy leather and flaps that make me feel super secure. So much so that jumping 3'6" in it felt pretty comfortable.

I'm not, however, convinced that it will work for Isabel. It still rocks a little bit, and is too wide without corrective padding (and even with, I'm worried that there's pressure right under the middle of the seat). It also seems to want to sit to the right on her. That might be a function of her uneven muscling (we're working on it!) and could probably be addressed with corrective padding. But we will see. 

Oh, and also I'm not sure this saddle is even for sale lol. Kaitlyn has been super generous in letting me borrow it while her mare is out of commission with stitches, but she's expecting to get back into the saddle now and will likely want to try this out for herself.

back by popular demand: the gif of my very special kitty Martini struggling with an invisible force field coming between him and his object of desire. i relate buddy.... i totally relate

So that's the current lay of my saddle land. Blah. Here's a post summarizing my previous trial saddles and shopping experiences if you want a little more background on this whole saga. 

Please wish me luck, and feel free to share any related experiences or ideas or whatever you might have! Or, ya know, just silently pity me and get on with your weekend ;)